Libertarian Thread

[Enduro]

Any predictions?

[The Other Castro]

I predict that it will have no impact whatsoever on anything.

[sparkey]

I predict that McAfee will be center stage, Gary Johnson will be wearing sneakers, and there will be a blind Vietnam vet in the audience who looks like he's sleeping, but is really just concentrating.

Also, I'm less confident of this, but I think that Gary Johnson probably won't do as well as the other two. Johnson debated Petersen recently in Oregon, and got beaten pretty badly. 1:07:11 is particularly bad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD9_SygKxRw

It's also interesting that on Facebook and the like, both McAfee and Petersen have been really promoting this debate, but Johnson, not so much.

[This account no longer in use.]

DWPERRY OR RIOT

[Mr. Reactionary]

When/Where?

[sparkey]

When/Where?

Fox Business Network, first half tomorrow at 9PM Eastern, second half April 8 at 9PM Eastern. It was prerecorded 2 days ago in NYC.

[/]

"Fun"

[IceSpear]

I predict that it will have no impact whatsoever on anything.

Bold prediction.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Will they allow open carry?

[Enduro]

I'm beginning to lean toward John McAfee myself.

[catographer]

I predict there will be three white men talking about how the gov't helps poor (read: blacks and hispanics) too much.

[sparkey]

This is a good debate so far. All 3 candidates are doing pretty well IMO. http://amthirdpartyreport.com/2016/04/01/libertarian-presidential-debate-streaming-live-on-fox-business-now/

[Oak Hills]

"We are at war with China; we simply are"?

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

"Governor Johnson, should the Jewish baker be forced to make a cake for the Nazi wedding?"

"Yes, that is my contention."

[sparkey]

"Governor Johnson, should the Jewish baker be forced to make a cake for the Nazi wedding?"

"Yes, that is my contention."

I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he wasn't really paying attention to the precise question that Petersen and Stossel were asking. But that was cringe-worthy.

[Young Conservative]

Gary Johnson isn't very libertsrian is he?

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

Gary Johnson isn't very libertsriansmart is he?

[Enduro]

My opinion of the debate:

Gary Johnson wasn't very presidential, he allowed the other two candidates to take center stage. Almost none of his answers were memorable, except his flops. I no longer want him to be the party's nominee, and I hope that the delegates realize that his best moment (a third party needs to get in the debate to win) is very true, and he'll do terrible on that stage. If he's the nominee, I'll still vote for him.

John McAfee really surprised me at how good he is at speaking, he gave me new things to think about when it comes to issues I've been thinking about for years. His bit about isolationism stood out, and he expertly deflected the question about his past. I might be a McAfee supporter after this.

Austin Peterson was impressive, and had some of the best sound bites. The highlight of the debate, to me, was when he talked about government being charitable. Peterson could definately beat Trump, and Clinton, and that's what we want from our nominee.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

I predict there will be three white men talking about how the gov't helps poor (read: blacks and hispanics) too much.

No, opposing redistribution does not make one a racist.

[Kleine Scheiße]

McAfee did absolutely fantastic. I love the guy. He's wonderfully charismatic, he has great ideas, and he would be a wonderful candidate I could vote for in very good conscience.

Gary is weak. Low-energy!

I loathe Petersen. Self-important boner.

[sparkey]

My takeaways are almost identical to Enduro's, except that I had already switched to supporting McAfee from Johnson based on previous debates. IMO: McAfee > Petersen > Johnson this round. Petersen said on Facebook that he got better the second round. We'll see next week.

[Leinad]

Yeah, I also think Enduro gets it right, except the part about beating Trump or Clinton.

Could any of them beat Trump or Clinton in a fair election? Of course. But with the Spoiler Effect looming in everyone's mind, forcing people to vote for the "lesser of two evils," and a complete media blackout of third party candidates, with barely any coverage on the mainstream media and a lack of debate access...none of them have much chance to actually win.

Best case scenario they move the needle--I'm afraid we'd be naive to hope for any more, unless they make the debates fair and abolish the FPTP electoral system, replacing it with IRV for single-winner races and some form of PR (not simple party-list, either STV or MMP) for anything that can be multi-winner.

[Lyin' Steve]

I watched a bit of this.

Gary Johnson seems like such a boring, nervous weirdo.  Which is what he was in 2012.  I never got the appeal.  He also just looks droopy, maybe it's his nose.  Blah blah blah marijuana marijuana marijuana.

Austin Petersen seems like the kind of guy who spent way too much time on libertarian newsgroups and IRC rooms in high school, annoyed everyone by going on and on about the constitution and liberty in college, ran a libertarian blog out of his mom's basement and did low-level civic engagement, like wasting the time of his city council, after graduation and now ten years later still hasn't grown out of it.  So self-righteous, he's the exact stereotype of a reddit libertarian.  He also looks like a giant baby.  Blah blah blah constitution constitution constitution.

John McAfee is surprisingly cool and charismatic.  I was expecting some sort of maniac given all that I know about him.  I was surprised how polished he was, he wouldn't have been the worst guy on stage at the early major party debates.  Wikipedia says he has fewer votes than DWPERRY, humph.

[Kleine Scheiße]

John McAfee is surprisingly cool and charismatic.  I was expecting some sort of maniac given all that I know about him.  I was surprised how polished he was, he wouldn't have been the worst guy on stage at the early major party debates.  Wikipedia says he has fewer votes than DWPERRY, humph.

McAfee doesn't seem to really care much about getting onto Libertarian primary ballots. It seems that he's mostly focused on sending delegates to the convention by other means. I'm not familiar with the Libertarian process, though, but I know only like five states have a primary or caucus for them and they HAVE to pick delegates SOMEHOW.

[sparkey]

McAfee doesn't seem to really care much about getting onto Libertarian primary ballots. It seems that he's mostly focused on sending delegates to the convention by other means. I'm not familiar with the Libertarian process, though, but I know only like five states have a primary or caucus for them and they HAVE to pick delegates SOMEHOW.

Correct, primaries/caucuses don't affect LP delegates. LP delegates are not bound, so that they can make up their minds after the National Convention debate. Consider the Stossel debate a warm-up for that one, which will be the most important debate by far. Badnarik won in 2004 after a strong LNC debate performance.